Formula of bad education

Atop a golden stone pedestal carved with a lion's head, a child in a white nightgown stands in an ornate wrought-iron scroll-shaped sleigh, brandishing a thin rod as if driving or directing it. Below, a couple in eighteenth-century dress, the woman in a mint gown, the man in a red coat and powdered wig, walk arm in arm, gazing up at the scene above them under a heavy, storm-clouded sky.

Deep violet and charcoal shadow fill the background, set off by the pedestal's warm gold stone and the couple's muted mint, rose and crimson costume. Smooth academic modeling of the faces meets a theatrical, faintly ominous staging, giving the scene a dramatic, allegorical weight.